Drug not approved for covid-19 runs out in Ecuador 3:27
(CNN Spanish) -
Some 86,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine will arrive in Ecuador starting next week, in deliveries of 15,000 per week, Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos confirmed this Friday during a conference press.
Zevallos indicated that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which initially offered the shipment of 50,000 doses to Ecuador, closed a new agreement to increase them to 86,000 in this first stage, which will serve to inoculate 43,000 people and carry out phase 0 or « pilot plan »of the coronavirus vaccination program.
Ecuador plans to become the second South American country to receive the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNtech after Chile.
The 86,000 doses will be applied to the medical staff of hospitals that care for patients infected with COVID-19 and the elderly in public and private geriatric centers together with the staff who work in those places.
Social indiscipline is a problem for the control of the pandemic in Ecuador
Drug not approved for covid-19 runs out in Ecuador 3:27
According to the minister, vaccination is voluntary and a security protocol will be deployed with the Armed Forces for the reception and custody of the vaccines, which in this pilot plan will be distributed in the cities of Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca and in some hospitals in other cities in the country, taking care of the cold chain.
He added that they are training 2,000 health professionals for this program.
The Ecuadorian government continues to conduct negotiations with other pharmaceutical companies directly and also under the Covax initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Zevallos informed that, if a pharmacist commits before another to deliver doses of vaccines, it will be decided by the one that does it first as long as it has the emergency approvals of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
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The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health aspires to receive 9 million doses of vaccines against covid-19 by October this year.
Regarding the negotiation with Pfizer, the Ecuadorian government reported that it agreed to 2 million doses and hopes to be able to confirm another 2 million more with this same pharmaceutical company.
The health portfolio notified 226,866 cases of coronavirus this Friday, while 9,669 confirmed deaths and 4,604 probable deaths were registered.
BioNTechPfizervacuna against covid-19
